Chapter 79: Chapter 62: Round 1 – Narrow Victory (4th Update)
At this moment, Zhang Chen suddenly put down his pen and turned his head towards the direction of the basket. This startled Fox Fairy Nannan, who stopped her steps, not daring to touch Zhang Chen, fearful of being harmed by the golden light from Zhang Chen’s body. Her face showed fear as she backed away.
Zhang Chen walked towards the basket with a calm expression, his peripheral vision catching Fox Fairy Nannan, and then slowly arrived at the basket, reaching out to open it, while murmuring to himself, "These pieces of meat are enough for me to eat for a few days. I need to check them carefully, to ensure they’re properly dried and not moldy."
With the dried meat in his hand, Zhang Chen continuously examined them, flipping them one by one. The Fox Spirit was anxious, pacing in circles but dared not approach.
After Zhang Chen finished inspecting the dried meat, he slowly put them down. Under the wide-eyed gaze of the Fox Spirit, he directly picked up the basket and moved to the wooden wardrobe beside it.
This wooden wardrobe, also called a large cabinet, is similar to a supermarket freezer. It was a piece prepared by his father years ago when remarrying, used as an impressive item.
The wardrobe was made from three-centimeter thick elm wood, extremely sturdy, long since imbued with Zhang Chen’s golden light.
This moment Zhang Chen opened the wardrobe door, and under the gaze of the Fox Spirit, he directly stuffed the basket inside and closed the wooden door, lying directly on top of it, muttering softly, "Since the bed has already been messed up, might as well spend the night on the wardrobe."
Seeing Zhang Chen lying on the wardrobe, the Fox Spirit was dumbfounded. Her small mouth opened wide, standing there in shock as if she could fit an egg inside. Fox Fairy Nannan stared at Zhang Chen pressed against the lid, then at the several centimeters thick wardrobe, and at the golden shimmering wardrobe, at a loss of what to do.
After a long time, Fox Fairy Nannan finally came back to her senses, her elegant and composed demeanor was no longer maintained, but instead she cursed angrily: "Scoundrel! Are you still human? No decent person would do such a thing!"
She could use scissors to chisel the wardrobe, but if she alerted Zhang Chen, that kid would be difficult to deal with now.
"If only I had recovered from my injuries, I could use one Transportation Technique from my ancestors to directly move your entire house!" Fox Fairy Nannan cursed furiously: "*********...."
Zhang Chen lay on the box, his demeanor seemed relaxed, but his peripheral vision, his entire attention was focused on the Fox Spirit. If the Fox Spirit got angry and stabbed with scissors, he couldn’t be caught off guard.
Fortunately, the Fox Spirit didn’t act recklessly, only wandering around Zhang Chen and the big box, cursing unpleasant words endlessly, eventually leaving angrily, disappearing from sight.
After the Fox Spirit left, Zhang Chen quietly lay on the box, countless thoughts flickering through his mind: "Does the Fox Spirit only have these kinds of tricks? What is the Transportation Technique she mentioned?"
He pondered the methods he had seen from the Fox Spirit, the first method being the Transformation of Illusion and Reality, with the bucket and food transformed into illusion, passing directly through walls. The second was the Fox Spirit’s Soul Emergence, which could transport various objects.
"Transporting objects need not be feared, the weight of objects the Fox Spirit can transport must be limited. But the Transformation of Illusion and Reality truly is daunting! Since she mastered it, her ability shouldn’t be limited to transforming her own possessions; she should also be able to transform others’ possessions. However, one thing is certain: things enhanced with my golden light can resist the Fox Spirit’s methods," Zhang Chen had a flickering thought.
"Transformation of Illusion and Reality – it’s an incredible method! This Fox Spirit is extremely troublesome! I don’t want to confront her directly, I need to outsmart her!"
"Of course, the most crucial part is the Fox Spirit’s physical body; that body is her foundation. To kill the Fox Spirit, her physical form must be destroyed." Zhang Chen felt a headache, ordinary traps seemed to be ineffective against the Fox Spirit.
With the Fox Spirit’s abilities, ordinary traps simply couldn’t confine her.
"What about traps enhanced with golden light?" Zhang Chen’s mind had a flicker of inspiration: "Moreover, the Fox Spirit seems to always stay around the scholar Zhang Chen, sticking close together all the time, never leaving, and I haven’t had the opportunity to set any traps. Even if she leaves for errands, the Fox Spirit always emerges in soul form, making it tough to murder her with traps. Besides, with traps shining with golden light, unless the Fox Spirit is a fool, she will surely notice, and how could she fall for it?"
"Isn’t bypassing her physical body the answer?"
"Indeed, I do have another idea!" At this moment, a flash of inspiration came to Zhang Chen’s mind, he truly thought of a solution: "I can create a sealed space and deceive the Fox Spirit’s soul into entering it. Then I can seal the space from the outside using golden light, resulting in the Fox Spirit’s physical body losing its soul, and the soul losing its bodily nourishment, eventually causing her to die off."
With her soul and physical body separated, as long as he starved the Fox Spirit’s body, wouldn’t that resolve the issue?
"But how to deceive the Fox Spirit to come in? And choosing the sealed space is tricky!" Countless thoughts flickered through Zhang Chen’s mind, his brain working rapidly.
"I think this box is quite suitable. If I can lure the Fox Spirit’s soul to enter the box to transport stuff, then I can seal it from outside using golden light, wouldn’t that lead the Fox Spirit to her demise?"
"The only concern is how fast is the Fox Spirit’s soul, compared to the speed of me enhancing with golden light or her escaping directly. Testing this is necessary before making a decision!" Zhang Chen pondered silently in his heart:
"This matter requires careful planning; there’s no need to rush."
Actually, the best ’box’ for him would be the room, but not only does the room have holes in its walls, the floor is compacted mud as well. He wants to utilize golden light to cover the entire room, the target is too large, and he’s afraid he might act a bit slower, failing to seal the walls with golden light before the Fox Spirit escapes.
If the Fox Spirit notices him taking action, things might escalate into a major trouble, with both sides tearing faces off and fighting to the end, and that’s not the situation Zhang Chen wants to see.
He wants to eliminate the Fox Spirit silently, and even if he fails to kill her, he never wants her to suspect him, definitely not him battling the Fox Spirit head-on. He knows if they face off openly, he wouldn’t be a match for the Fox Spirit:
"Not to mention, if the Fox Spirit drops a boulder from high above, how should I respond?"
Now he must choose between using gunpowder to blow up the Fox Spirit’s physical form directly or finding a way to lure the Fox Spirit’s soul?
ps: Four updates completed today, seeking continued reads from you great readers.
Previous Chapters sixty-two and sixty-one were reversed; I deleted and reposted them correctly for you.